Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Porth
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system pulls it in. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and carefully purged where your car stands in Porth. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Porth, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- Take the keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or the receipt tells us the product and the quantity, and so do not throw it out.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting CF39 9, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your car just a short way is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel doesn't help: AdBlue settles out instead of thinning.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short stretch along Thomas' Place.
- Draining your tank on your own by the road is not worth trying.
Rolling your car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Porth forecourt you're on, the Texaco or any other. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. From a dedicated tank it is fed directly to the exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, will not. Its behaviour is not at all like fuel's. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Britannia last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. A car left standing around Porth with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Diesel protects the injection pump and every injector as it passes; water offers none of that, and that is a separate kind of harm.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the Shell, and the problem is diluted fuel. Blended through the diesel and sitting still, it's harmless for now; using the engine does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It can't simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Whether the vehicle is in Llwyncelyn or the heart of Porth, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other error, and the flush matters for more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the next tankful.
The same good news holds as with petrol. If the motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Rhondda Cynon Taf the vehicle is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Porth?
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then under a single flap — may appear the same. No one means it; many designs invite it. Mostly it's never the forecourt: a driver picks up a container driving home and pours it in at home.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside the local primary school. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a drive close to Argyle Street. Otherwise, after dark by Sports Bar, your vehicle gets refilled by someone using that flap for the first time.
It occurs most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Porth included, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first response: keep it switched off.
Porth: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through your filter, through the lines, and — with any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that's how far it travels.
You may see the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Bronwydd Park or halfway across Porth. Stop when safe. Switch off. Keep the car off rather than restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Porth lies under 10 miles from the M4; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Distance counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue further in, so driving for Cardiff, under 15 miles away, gives a much larger job than crossing Porth to the car park by William Evans. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been run. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage if it's caught early.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Porth: what it takes
A road by Valleys Kids, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: anywhere your vehicle has stopped around Porth, our engineers come to it. The work depends on three answers, which our technicians ask for first — what was put in, the quantity, and if the engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after the tank is emptied, right there. The fuel system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding your system with clean diesel comes at the end. Whether it is a parking bay outside the nearest station or a drive in Porth, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. Our technicians make sure it runs correctly on clean diesel before we leave. No garage is needed at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Porth, briefly
Porth is a town situated in the Rhondda Valley in south Wales, on the banks of the River Rhondda. Porth has a mix of terraced housing and more modern developments, reflecting its history of growth and regeneration. Porth is located near several smaller communities, including Cymmer, Glynfach, and Birchgrove, and is around 13 miles north of Cardiff. Porth sits at an elevation of around 123 metres above sea level, in a scenic riverside setting.
AdBlue drains across Rhondda Cynon Taf, Porth included
The vans that answer AdBlue calls in Porth also cover the places around it, Cymmer, Glynfach and Birchgrove among them, and most of Rhondda Cynon Taf beyond, across the CF postcode area. Near a boundary, or somewhere awkward to explain? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
Anywhere your car sits — a driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a filling station — we drain it on the spot, and there's no need to take it to us; that suits Porth, a riverside town, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Porth
Not one single price could be fair, since each job differs. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of your car, because an open drive is simpler for our van to get to safely than a tight gap behind Tabernacle Baptist Church.
What got in, how much, and whether it ran: each Porth enquiry opens by asking precisely those, before a figure, not after. With those replies, the range narrows to a single fixed figure.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the price by phone. And you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Next to your car around Porth, right now?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Porth or wherever within Rhondda Cynon Taf, after you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran.